How Mohun Bagan SG won the ISL Shield
An absorbing and high quality match between Mohun Bagan SG and Mumbai City FC gave hope for the blossoming of Indian talent
The last time Mumbai City FC and Mohun Bagan Super Giant competed for the Indian Super League shield, in 2020-21, the match was in a Covid-19 bubble, sheltered from the virus and insulated from their supporters. But the two teams went headto-head yet again on Monday, in another League shield showdown, in front of over 60,000, who packed and rocked the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.
They delivered a finale that was high on quality, and higher in drama. But Bagan came up with a decidedly superior performance when it mattered, stealing the show and the shield from Mumbai City FC with an entertaining 2-1 win. They finished the League stage at 48 points, the most by a team in ISL history and one more than their opponents.
This completed a trio of triumphs for Kolkata clubs. Earlier, East Bengal won the Super Cup while Mohammedan Sporting Club secured the I-League title and earned promotion to the Indian Super League.
With the League winners earning the only confirmed spot in Asian competitions—in AFC Champions League 2—a lot was at stake on Monday. The match between Bagan and Mumbai was billed as the best attack versus the best defence in the League. The ISL champions of last year versus the 2022-23 League Shield winners. Coming into the match, the Kolkata team had scored the most goals this season, 45, while Mumbai’s had been the stingiest defence, leaking only 17 goals.
The fact that they were the two teams competing for the shield was a turnaround by itself. While Mumbai had seen coach Des Buckingham, who moulded the team into a winning outfit since 2021, return to England in December, Bagan had let go of title-winning coach Juan Ferrando in January and handed the reins back to Antonio Lopez Habas. Even Mumbai’s key playmaker Greg Stewart departed mid-way through the season, leaving a massive void in the team.
When Petr Kratky, who was parachuted in from sister club Melbourne City FC, took charge of the team they were sitting fourth in the table. It was Kratky’s first turn as the head coach in a top division, but he rounded up the troops effectively, making the most of the talent at his disposal and getting them to perform as a team.
Meanwhile, the defending ISL champions had made a strong start to their 2023-24 season as they won the Durand Cup and embarked on a seven-match unbeaten streak. In an attempt to strengthen the attack, the coach had thrown out the more adventurous fourman defence and opted for three defenders. The wheels came off when they faced the Islanders in Mumbai. In a high-voltage clash, which became better known for seven red cards, Mumbai handed
Bagan a 2-1 defeat. On Monday, they kept it to a modest 10 yellow cards and 1 red (Brendan Hamill).
After two more defeats in as many matches, the Kolkata club decided to part ways with Ferrando. Habas, who had led ATK Football Club (ATK merged with Mohun Bagan AC to become Mohun bagan Super Giant in 2020) to a title win in the inaugural ISL season in 2014 and later in the 2019-20 season, and understood the ebbs and flows of the Indian League better than anyone, took over as the interim coach in January. He demanded greater cohesion, better energy and improved performance, and the team delivered. From No. 5 on the table, they rose to the very top.
Mumbai not only held a two-point advantage going into the final day of the ISL 2023-24 League stage, they were on a nine-match unbeaten streak; nor had they ever lost to Mohun Bagan since the legacy club made its foray into the ISL in 2020. The fanciful statistics, however, didn’t add up to a winning formula on the field on Monday. Perhaps unsettled by the atmosphere created by some of the most passionate fans in the country, or the weight of the moment finally bearing on them, Mumbai were slow off the blocks. Their transformation that had looked so seamless under Kratky, started cracking. And they were made to pay by a clinical and driven Bagan, who started with a 3-2-4-1 formation and dominated proceedings early on.
A LANDMARK SEASON
With the ISL completing 10 years, this was a landmark season for the League. It had been launched in 2014 with much fanfare and the fervent hope that Indian football talent would finally get a platform. Results haven’t been instant, but they have been improving. Over the years Indian players, with the four foreigners (3 + 1 Asian player)
rule in place, have been plugged into defence or utility roles. But with time they are surging forward. This season marked the first time that three Indian players made 10 or more goal contributions— Manvir Singh (Bagan) had three goals and seven assists, Vikram Partap Singh (Mumbai) with seven goals and three assists, and Lallianzuala Chhangte (Mumbai) with seven goals and six assists.
Moreover, the Indian core—players like Chhangte, Bipin Singh, Lalengmawia ‘Apuia’ Ralte, Rahul Bheke and Mehtab Singh—was the reason why Mumbai City survived, and thrived, despite the changes at the top. Vikram Partap Singh, who possesses lightning pace on the wing, has graduated from a super sub to a regular and is the highest scorer among Indian